Top 25 East Indian Recipe terms

In your quest to discover and know more about East Indian cuisine, you may come across some East Indian recipe terms which may leave you wondering..What is that? What does it mean?

Well, we’ve got them demystified for you.

1. Rajma-Chawal – Red kidney bean and rice combination

2. Roti – Flat bread made out of Flour. Resembles Tortilla and made on Tawa which is basically a iron griddle

3. Parantha– Roti that is pan- fried. It can be stuffed too with vegetables like potatoes, radish,  cauliflower etc and usually enjoyed with yogurt

4. Kichdi – rice and lentil mix, cooked well and served with ghee. Sometimes it is given a tudka (seasoning) of  cumin seeds, onions, ginger and garlic.

5. Dosa – Pancake made out of rice powder. Commonly eaten in Southern part of India

6. Pulav – Dish made out of rice. Basically Rice cooked along with various vegetables

7. Biryani – Rice cooked in a special traditional way along with vegetables or meat

8. Shorba  – soup

9. Dal – Preparation of Lentils. There are a lot of different variety of Dals depending on which lentils are used in their preparation. One of the basic food entrees’ that East Indians normally eat.

10. Sevaiyya – Dish made out of semolina strips and milk. Sweet in taste. Cooked during auspicious occasions and festivals.

11. Puris – wheat flour flattenings, deep fried in oil. Some variations are Aloo-puri ( which is puris eaten with Potatoes) and chole puri/Puri- chole (Chick peas and puris)

12. Baingan bharta – Roasted Eggplant/brinjal vegetable dish

13. Pachdi – Curd based side dish. Cucumber and tomato chopped and a casual tempering over it.

14. Rasam – a very liquid curry (almost like spicy water) eaten with rice.

 15. Sambar – a curry basically of tamarind, tlentils and vegetables. Enjoyed with rice or dosa

16. Kheer – A sweet dish made out of rice and milk

17. Halwa – Cake in Indian style. It can be made out of semolina, wheat flour, chick pea flour, carrots (Gajar ka halwa or gajrela) etc.

18. Rabdi-jalebi – Popular Indian sweet dish. Condensed milk balls and yellow circular sweets

19. Ladoos – It’s a sweet dish. Round,  sweet balls easily available at sweet shops throughout India.

20. Dhoklas – Gujarati dish made out of chick pea flour. It is yellow in color and salty in taste. Mostly enjoyed as an appetizer.

21. Chana or chole – Whole gram from Kabul. Chick peas are also referred to as Chole.

22. Raita – similar to a pachdi but a north Indian version

23. Achaar – Pickle. Most common ones are Aam ka achaar (Mango-pickle), Nimboo ka achaar (Lemon Pickle) and gobi-gajar ka achaar (Cauliflower- carrot achaar). It is eaten along with rice and vegetables or daal-roti

24. Gulab jamun – Popular East indian sweets which resemble Tim bits but are much more sweet. Small, round balls. Can be eaten hot or cold.

25. Chutney – It is basically a sauce which is eaten along with main course. Some common chutneys are: Imli ki chutney (Tamarind Sauce), Aam ki chutney (Mango Sauce) and Pudiney ki Chutney (Mint Sauce)